Evaluating Graduate Students within an Online Literacy Clinic: Providing Practicum Experiences for Candidates Who are Pursuing Graduate Studies in the Reading Teacher Endorsement and the Reading Specialist

Abstract

Graduate students who want to be literacy specialists are required by the state to complete a practicum in a literacy clinic under the supervision of their instructor. A recent trend involves moving literacy clinics to an online delivery that includes both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration (Lilienthal, 2014; Lilienthal et al., 2017). By offering a practicum course online, colleges can increase access to educational and professional growth opportunities for those students who are geographically constrained (Frey, 2008). Technology becomes even more critical for a literacy clinical course because the instructor must be able to not only deliver the course content online but also supervise students as they teach children in educational settings. This study explored how technologies and other aspects of an online literacy practicum course delivery worked in terms of supporting the quality of learning and increasing the efficacy of graduate students. Findings revealed that the technologies and other aspects of an online literacy practicum course delivery supported the quality of learning and increased the efficacy of graduate students. These findings are consistent with previous research that described the process of moving a literacy clinic online in order to offer the highest level of efficacy (